bassbiscuits

I started bass when I was 12, mainly to annoy my older brother who was 15 and had just started on guitar. We’d been inspired by some older teenage friends whose band we saw at TSB Rockschool in Porthcawl. My brother used to get stuff from the record library - Kiss, Iron Maiden and Motörhead - which we listen to with our school friends (one who had an unwanted Kay bass). I got my own bass - a godawful short scale Satellite bass - in the summer of 1986. I’d wanted drums but didn’t have money or space. Fast forward 39 years and I’m still going. Less into metal these days, more into a broader range of stuff and play acoustic guitar too to a very decent level (though jazz and country still don’t float my boat). Playing music has been a constant companion and self-soothing method throughout my life. If id realised back then i’d have spent more time learning it properly in the first place but there you go.

My perfect gig… Somewhere within an hour from home, with good parking and an easy load in. Catering of which the band can partake is always good. A responsive crowd, decent pay and no one requesting Oasis.

Ah the acoustic I bought back in March has earned its keep as a campfire travel guitar this weekend so it’s staying now. Which makes me feel slightly better!

I use both. For covers bands I tend to use round wounds and a modern active bass to cover the wide range of sounds needed. For tribute / original bands I use mostly a passive bass with flats. I sometimes use the active bass with rounds for that too tho depending on how I’m feeling. I like both and I tend to favour one over the other at different times. Been playing rounds/active bass loads lately but took P with flats to last rehearsal and fell in love with the sound again.

I’ve got Elton John’s biog somewhere. Need to dig that out before my hols. Can recommend Duff McKagan’s biog, Flea’s excellent “Acid for the Children” and Johnny Marr’s “Set the boy free.”

Practice - you’ll spot “anchor points” in the song where this lyric and that bass part match up and make it easier to navigate. Also, worth trying one thing at a time. Learning to sing a song well is a job in itself, so maybe do that as one job and learning the bass line as another job. Once you’ve got them in hand, then start combining them. Good luck.

It’s a shame when band situations rob all the joy out of making music. I’ve been a in few where I was meant to be enjoying it, but actually came away with a bad taste in my mouth from dealing with the various problems it brought. Sometimes it takes walking away from it and getting your balance back before deciding what to do next. Hope it all goes well, and good luck with whatever the next step brings.

Year started playing: 1986 Number of basses: 3 Music theory: 2/10 Technique: 8/10 Groove: 9/10

Keys. I’ve been in too many bands where the keyboard player felt obliged to fill any hint of quiet with pointless flourishes adding nothing to the song.

Not at all. I wouldn’t hand over any of my instruments to someone I didn’t trust and certainly wouldn’t do so repeatedly if the result was bad. I guess I must just be getting a good deal then, as a long standing customer. Jolly good.

It sounds as tho the job is really making and fitting a new nut, probably tweaking intonation and neck relief. Fitting strap locks is a five min job. As a guide I think I’ve usually paid about £40 for a set up (fret dress, set action and intonation) and the same sort of price for a new nut (the jobs go together as a new nut will require the rest to be set up around it.) But that’s based on one local repairer that I’ve used for years. There’s probably a few luthier websites online with prices listed for that sort of work to give you an idea.

At my last gig the guitarist had various broken string/tuning problems in between songs and me and the drummer ended up busking various 70s TV themes to amuse the audience in the meantime. It became a bit of a thing as the night went on, and was a lot better than awkward silence and shuffling about onstage.

Cool weekend of gigs. Friday night playing bass with Superbad at the Sapcote Social Club in Leicestershire. Really good turnout, lots of dancing and good sound. Saturday night playing bass with my own band (the Andy Wales Band) at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. We were all knackered and it was a bit ragged and “seat of pants” at times but still plenty of good bits, a decent crowd and some righteous noises were made by all. Gear for both gigs was a Yamaha BB604 and little Markbass traveller rig. Then Sunday, helping our local village guitar teacher with his twice yearly gig for his students (including my eldest lad who’s just discovered Nirvana). It’s quite inspiring to see the youngsters grow as musicians over the few years we’ve been involved. The biblical rain from the morning thankfully stayed away all afternoon and it was a lovely outdoor shindig in his back garden, with me providing the PA and bass gear, being a general helper and being roped in on bass for one song. Gig below from Saturday night and Sunday afternoon’s gigs.

Good work @Chienmortbb. While I do gig my old precision bass quite often, my main go-to bass is a Yamaha BB604 that cost me £200 about seven years ago. Both sound ace, despite probably having a £3k price gap between them.

Yes I gig all three of my basses. But I don’t take every bass to every gig. I try not to play $h1tholes where my kit will be stolen, but it’s more about evening out the wear and tear. I suspect a drunken Saturday night pub crowd will not appreciate the tonal qualities of a vintage Fender over a cheap and cheerful Yamaha, so why bother taking it?

That’s my brother’s mate Andy on bass for the Selector.

The thing is that it just drives people further away from caring what the media say. Which isn't a good thing in a world full of unmoderated social media junk. Bona fide news organisations at least carried some gravitas whether you agreed with their politics or not. Nowadays it just seems a race to the bottom of clickbait and space-filling chaff.

A couple of the national papers have been churning out social media posts criticising some minor element of this act or that act with a seemingly standard strapline saying “one punter said it was shocking” etc. One punter whinging on twitter does not a news story make. Or at least it shouldn’t. Some of the more right-wing press also seem to have been digging deep to selectively pick out something to dislike. I suspect going along and having a good time is a lot more fun than sitting in an office whinging about it (probably bitter they didn’t get a freebie ticket).

Why is his ride cymbal so crazily high up tho?!

Yes: as long as you’re all clear from the outset what the expectations / level of commitment is. Motivation for most gigging musos would be regular paying gigs, input into set lists / songs, maybe make use of their skills for example singing lead on some songs etc. Basically get them involved in a band that’s doing stuff. And once up and running don’t be afraid to use good deps to cover those times when those other band commitments might prevent your usual line up from performing. More gigs you do, more people will get to know what you’re about.

To echo some others on here, I think it’s a case of being clear from the start what the expectations are from bands so people can decide if it’s something they can / want to commit to, whether that’s paid gigs, how often, rehearsals and goals overall. Personally I think most generic function/wedding/pub covers bands all play at least 50% of the same material anyway so it’s not actually rocket science for an experienced confident match fit player to step in given enough notice. I love playing in multiple bands. I find it a bit unrealistic for any one band to fulfil all my musical aspirations and needs. Some are better payers, some do loads of gigs, some allow more creative expression. It’s all good.

I play bass in two bands, dep on bass in a third band, and do solo acoustic guitar and vocal gigs. The members of each band also play in various other bands too. As long as there’s agreement well in advance on what gigs can and can’t be done, we work around it through deps. The only band I rehearse with is the one where we write original material - in the others it is assumed I do my homework and turn up knowing the material. Committing to lots of rehearsals is actually something that would put me off playing in a band - the people I play with are all experienced musicians playing at a very decent level while already juggling family, other commitments (musical and otherwise) so doing it without rehearsals is par for the course. Where I am (Leicester) there’s a huge amount of overlap of musicians playing with multiple bands. I tend to find I either know someone or have played with someone who knows them! Not sure if that’s the case in other cities too but I’d expect so. The idea of being in just one band doesn’t really come into it. The things that attract me to working with bands? Regular paid gigs, material I like, musicians I like, no pressure to rehearse, and some say in the songs we do. I’ve been in enough bands that go nowhere, or never get round to gigging for one reason or another, or have people i struggle to get ok with etc…

The late nights and long drives are what finishes me these days. I do a fair few gigs which are 2-3 hour drives and I really feel it now (I’m 51). Gigs themselves are not the problem - I always find energy once I’m up there. Away from gigs I’ve swum a mile every weekend for several years now, and try to go for a jog around my village (when I can be bothered, which isn’t often). Sadly I’ve put weight on this year from being desk-bound writing university work so my next job is to get into shape again - hopefully will get a bit more energy in doing so.